Political
Need information regarding current political news? Here we'll keep you updated on the latest political news, locally and nationally.
3 council members renew oaths of office in Ephrata
EPHRATA — Three Ephrata City Council Members were sworn in Wednesday evening after winning their respective races.…
EU backs helping Afghanistan's neighbors cope with refugees
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union justice and home affairs ministers pledged Tuesday to support Afghanistan's neighbors to help them host people fleeing the new Taliban regime and prevent a new wave of migrants headin…
Biden defends departure from 'forever war,' praises airlift
WASHINGTON (AP) — A defensive President Joe Biden on Tuesday called the U.S. airlift to extract more than 120,000 Americans, Afghans and other allies from Afghanistan to end a 20-year war an “extraordinary success,…
The Latest: Australia getting vaccine in swap with Singapore
CANBERRA, Australia — Australia says it has reached a deal with Singapore to acquire 500,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine next week in return for delivering the same number of shots to Singapore in Decem…
Black women seeing guns as protection from rising crime
TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) — Valerie Rupert raised her right arm, slightly shaking and unsure as she aimed at the paper target representing a burglar, a robber or even a rapist.
US airlifts aid to Haiti to reach areas hardest hit by quake
JEREMIE, Haiti (AP) — U.S. military aircraft are now ferrying food, tarps and other material into southern Haiti amid a shift in the international relief effort to focus on helping people in the areas hardest hit b…
Last troops exit Afghanistan, ending America's longest war
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan late Monday, ending America’s longest war and closing a chapter in military history likely to be remembered for colossal failures, unful…
RFK's oldest son condemns possible parole of Sirhan Sirhan
BOSTON (AP) — Former congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, the oldest son of Robert F. Kennedy, denounced the
Illinois Democrats OK new legislative maps over criticism
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Democrats were poised to set new legislative boundaries over objections from Republicans and some community groups that the process was unnecessarily rushed and maps were drawn behind closed…
COVID recession pushed Social Security insolvency up a year
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sharp shock of the coronavirus recession pushed Social Security a year closer to insolvency but left Medicare’s exhaustion date unchanged, the government reported Tuesday in a counterintuitive…
Bali bomb case starts in Guantanamo 18 years after capture
NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (AP) — Three prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center had
Years later, California voters still wait on water projects
SITES, Calif. (AP) — In 2014, in the middle of a severe drought that would test California's complex water storage system like never before, voters told the state to borrow $7.5 billion and use part of it to build …
Officials withhold school board salaries over mask mandates
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida state education officials on Monday began to make good on threats to withhold funding from local school districts that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis' ban on mask mandates, despite a circ…
Analysis: War is over but not Biden's Afghanistan challenges
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the final stream of U.S. cargo planes soaring over the peaks of the Hindu Kush, President Joe Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to
A sound bite reexamined: 'Pandemic of the unvaccinated'
WASHINGTON (AP) — This summer’s coronavirus resurgence has been labeled a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” by government officials from President Joe Biden on down.
Merkel's would-be heir seeks rebound after election debate
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's struggling would-be heir on Monday hit back at suggestions that a center-left rival is better qualified for the job after a televised debate four weeks ahead of Germany's el…